**Rating: 3.5/5**

Funny book. Much like all his others.

A quirky, random, humorous, zany, fun, enjoyable read that started out with a bang and ended abruptly. An airport check-in desk explodes. Around the same time in a basement there is a bloody severed head revolving around a record turntable. The immortal gods, Thor and Odin are in conflict. Holistic detective Dirk Gently investigates.

If you enjoyed Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency then you should find this an entertaining read.

Here are some examples of the author’s quirkily clever writing style:

‘The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it which the merely improbable lacks.’
‘Words used carelessly, as if they did not matter in any serious way, often allowed otherwise well-guarded truths to seep through.’
‘The idea was fantastically, wildly improbable. But like most fantastically, wildly improbably ideas it was at least as worthy of consideration as a more mundane one to which the facts had been strenuously bent to fit.’

The more expansive world and cast of characters in this follow up to the first Dirk Gently novel does wonders to show how many seemingly random events can inevitably come together; thanks to the interconnectedness of all things!

Pas une suite à proprement parlé , mais plutôt une deuxième enquête où on retrouve le personnage principal de cette série : Dirk Gently. Très drôle même si j'ai moins rigolé qu'en lisant un Cheval dans la salle de bain. J'ai trouvé le livre mieux construit que le premier, la conclusion est intéressante. Le personnage de Dirk est plus mis en avant. Toujours aussi absurde, c'est une très bonne lecture que je recommande.

Adams tedy nabízí opravdu šílené jízdy... Při čtení nejde nemyslet na Pratchetta, jeho styl psaní a nedostižné dílo Dobrá znamení, DTČSD je ale přímočařejší, s menším množstvím odboček i postav, zato ale přidává sci-fi detektivní zápletku. Taktéž oproti předchozí Holistické detektivní kanceláři tady nedostaneme na konci všespojující moment, nekončící proud všelikerých scének je ale více než dostačující - mezi nimi je nutné zmínit boj o ledničku, trampoty s orlem, speciální kliniku, získání kafe i knihy (a jinde zase novin), přechytračení opraváře aut atd. atp. Do toho severští bohové, britské kulisy a hlavně holistický způsob vyšetřování. Po dočtení pravda několik nejasností zůstává, jindy tak pomocný internet mlčí (resp. nabízí jen další otázky) a spokojím se tak s několika zajímavými teoriemi ("Hoši od soudu se na ně mrkli, zauvažovali o hlavních bodech a řešení se jim zalíbilo. Bylo jednoduché, nepravděpodobné a přesně takové, jaké kápne do noty koronerovi, který rád jezdí na dovolenou do Marbelly stejně jako oni."), ale že je mezi postavami Loki mi už nikdo nevezme - vždyť přeci umí měnit svou podobu, že...

Originally posted at my blog The Otaku Librarian.

It all began at Heathrow, with a large, blonde man trying to get a ticket to Oslo without a credit card or any proof of identification. Add one exploding passenger check-in desk, a decapitated head on a record player (playing Hot Potato - Don't pick it up / pick it up / pick it up / pick it), and the famed Dirk Gently, and you don't know what you'll end up with.

I certainly didn't, have any idea of what'd happen, that is. This was an odd romp into the world of Dirk Gently and Douglas Adams, whose Hitchhiker's book I had previously read and was not enormously enamored with. I did find it amusing, don't get me wrong, but I didn't love it, say, as much as Pratchett's Discworld novels. But, anyway, rambling aside, one of my friends said that I had to read it and that she had the audiobook and that I could borrow it. So I did.

I love Douglas Adams' reading voice! The variation in voices, depending on the characters that he was currently narrating for, was great and entertaining. He went from Toerag's slimy obsequious tone (reminiscent of Black Adder in his butler-phase) to his "normal" narrative voice which kept reminding me of Hugh Laurie. Not in his American / House voice, of course. Maybe that's just a sign I want to rewatch Black Adder (again). The only downside of the loaned discs was the lack of divided chapters as well as any mention of chapters, so sometimes I got confused in regard to scene changes / time skips, etc. But it wasn't a big deal.

The humor, I did enjoy and it ranged from the simply ridiculous (the great punishment of being varnished to a wooden floor) to the snorting-with-laughter in regard to a certain scene including an eagle that I won't spoil. The plot, due to the lack of chapter headings, I got a bit confused at first about what was really happening, but I went along happily with the ride because I was enjoying it. And, of course, in the end it all ties together so I was pleased.

And oops, I had forgotten to review this since I finished it a while back. But it was a fun and entertaining read that you don't take too seriously, but you'll leave with a smile and a song that you can get stuck in your friends' heads. Wee!

While trying to purchase an airline ticket to Oslo at Heathrow Airport, American journalist Kate Schechter finds herself in line behind a large blond man who also wants to get on the flight but has no identification or means to pay. The check-in counter is suddenly consumed by fire, and both Kate and the man are taken to a hospital with injuries. The only possession the man seems to have is a sledgehammer.

From this point, the plot becomes even wackier and involves the “Holistic” detective Dirk Gently, a bunch of Norse gods and some very strange incidents, characters, dialogs and events.

I like Douglas Adams’s style and humor and like this book too, probably not as much as the hitchhiker books but it is a nice and funny read.

Funny, but not as good as the Hitchhiker series!

A crazy adventure...but a bit crude at times.

No, sorry. I'd have to be a great deal more bored than I am with my life to finish listening to this. It might be funnier read in print, because the reader seemed bored by the whole thing as well.

Such a weird book. I don't...I don't even know exactly what it was that I just read. But I know that I enjoyed every single page of it's sarcastic, hilarious, bizarreness.